PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA

(A file consisting of excerpts from the PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA, a non-copyright 
book which serves as a "bible" for Discordians.  It may answer some 
questions about Discordianism -- but, then again, it may not.)

(Eris = Goddess of Confusion; slightly adapted from Greek mythology.)  

(For the complete book, write to:  Loompanics Unlimited, PO Box 1197, Port 
Townsend, WA 98368 - unsolicited advertisement.)  



                            PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA
                The Magnum Opiate of Malaclypse the Younger

          (excerpts)  ALL RITES REVERSED (K) REPRINT WHAT YOU LIKE

                       Dedicated to the Prettiest One


POEE
is one manifestation of
the DISCORDIAN SOCIETY
about which 
you will learn more and understand less

We 
are a tribe 
of philosophers, theologians,
magicians, scientists,
artists, clowns, 
and similar maniacs
who are intrigued
with 
ERIS
GODDESS OF CONFUSION
and with
Her Doings

"There are trivial truths and there are great truths.  The opposite of a 
trivial truth is plainly false.  The opposite of a great truth is also true"  
--Neils Bohr.  

ON PRAYER:
Mal-2 was once asked by one of his Disciples if he often prayed to Eris.  He 
replied with these words:  
No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous.  Charles Fort has 
listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a 
drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village 
wiped out in a torrential flood.  

THE LAW OF FIVES:
     The Law of Fives is one of the oldest Erisian Mysterees.  It was first 
revealed to Good Lord Omar and is one of the great contributions to come 
from the Hidden Temple of the Happy Jesus.
     POEE subscribes to the Law of Fives of Omar's sect.  And POEE also 
recognizes the holy 23 (2+3=5) that is incorporated by Episkopos Dr. 
Mordecai Malignatius, KNS, into his Discordian sect, the Ancient Illuminated 
Seers of Bavaria.  
     The Law of Fives states simply that:  ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR 
ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY 
APPROPRIATE TO FIVE.
     The Law of Fives is never wrong.
     In the Erisian Archives is an old memo from Omar to Mal-2: "I find the 
Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."  


     POEE (Pronounced "POEE") is an acronym for the PARATHEO-ANAMETAMYSTIKHOOD 
OF ERIS ESOTERIC.  The first part can be taken to mean "equivalent deity, 
reversing beyond-mystique".  We are not really esoteric, it's just that nobody 
pays much attention to us.  
     MY HIGH REVERENCE MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER, AB, DD, KSC, is the High Priest 
of POEE, and POEE is grounded his episkopotic revelations of The Goddess.  
     The POEE HEAD TEMPLE is the Joshua Norton Cabal of The Discordian 
Society, which is located in Mal-2's pineal gland and can be found by 
temporaly and spatially locating the rest of Mal-2.  
     POEE has no treasury, no by-laws, no articles, no guides save Mal-2's 
pineal gland, and has only one scruple -- which Mal-2 keeps on his key chain.  
     POEE has not registered, incorporated, or otherwise chartered with the 
State, and so the State does not recognize POEE or POEE Ordinations, which is 
only fair, because POEE does not recognise the State.  

ORDINATION AS A POEE PRIEST:
     There are no particular qualifications for Ordination because if you want 
to be a POEE Priest then you must undoubtably qualify.  Who could possibly 
know better than you whether or not you should be Ordained?  

                          NO TWO EQUALS ARE THE SAME

                            THE DISCORDIAN SOCIETY
     The Discordian Society has no definition.  
     I sometimes think of it as a disorganization of Eris Freaks.  It has been 
called a guerilla mind theatre.  Episkopos Randomfactor, Director of Purges of 
Our People's Underworld Movement sect in Larchmont. prefers "The World's 
Greatest Association of What-ever-it-is-that-we-are."  Lady Mal thinks of it 
as a RENAISSANCE THINK TANK.  Fang the Unwashed, WKC, won't say.  You can 
think of it any way you like.  
     An EPISKOPOS OF THE DISCORDIAN SOCIETY is one who prefers total autonomy, 
and creates his own Discordian sect as The Goddess directs him.  He speaks for 
himself and for those that say they like what he says.  
     The LEGION OF DYNAMIC DISCORD:  A Discordian Society Legionnaire is one 
who prefers not to create his own sect.  

    If you want in on the Discordian Society
    then declare yourself what you wish
    do what you like
    and tell us about it
    or
    if you prefer
    don't.  

    There are no rules anywhere.  
    The Goddess Prevails.  

The Hell Law says that Hell is reserved exclusively for them that believe in 
it.  Further, the lowest Rung in Hell is reserved for them that believe in 
it on the supposition that they'll go there if they don't.  
     -- HBT; The Gospel According to Fred, 3:1

                             CONVENTIONAL CHAOS
     GREYFACE
In the year 1166 B.C., a malcontented hunchbrain by the name of Greyface, 
got it into his head that the universe was as humorless as he, and he began 
to teach that play was sinful because it contradicted the ways of Serious 
Order.  "Look at all that order about you," he said. And from that, he 
deluded honest men to believe that reality was a straightjacket affair and 
not the happy romance as men had known it.  

It is not presently understood why men were so gullible at that particular 
time, for absolutely no one thought to observe all the DISORDER around them 
and conclude just the opposite.  But anyway, Greyface and his followers took 
the game of playing at life more seriously than they took life itself and 
were known even to destroy other living beings whose ways of life differed 
from their own.  

The unfortunate result of this is that mankind has since been suffering from 
a psychological and spiritual imbalance.  Imbalance causes frustration, and 
frustration causes fear.  And fear makes a bad trip.  Man has been on a bad 
trip for a long time now.  

It is called THE CURSE OF GREYFACE.  


HERE FOLLOWS SOME PSYCHO-METAPHYSICS.
If you are not hot for philosophy, best just skip it.    

     The Aneristic Principle is that of APPARENT ORDER; the Erisitic 
Principle is that of APPARENT DISORDER.  Both order and disorder are man 
made CONCEPTS and are artificial divisions of PURE CHAOS, which is a level 
deeper than is the level of distinction making.  
     With our concept making apparatus called "mind" we look at reality 
through the ideas-about-reality which our cultures give us.  The ideas-
about-reality are mistakenly labeled "reality" and unenlightened people are 
forever perplexed by the fact that other people, especially other cultures, 
see "reality" differently.  It is only the ideas-about-reality which differ.  
Real (capital-T True) reality is a level deeper than is the level of 
concept.  
     We look through the world through windows on which have been drawn 
grids (concepts).  Different philosophies use different grids.  A culture is 
a group of people with rather similar grids.  Through a window we view 
chaos, and relate it to the points on our grid, and thereby understand it.  
The ORDER is in the GRID.  That is the Aneristic Principle.  
     Western philosophy is traditionally concerned with contrasting one grid 
with another grid, and amending grids in hopes of finding a perfect one that 
will account for all reality and will, hence, (say unenlightened westerners) 
be True.  This is illusory; it is what we Erisians call the ANERISTIC 
ILLUSION.  Some grids can be more useful than others, some more beautiful 
than others, some more pleasant than others, etc., but none can be more True 
than any other.  
     DISORDER is simply unrelated information viewed through some particular 
grid.  But, like "relation", no-relation is a concept.  Male, like female, 
is an idea about sex.  To say that male-ness is "absence of female-ness", or 
vice versa, is a matter of definition and metaphysically arbitrary.  The 
artificial concept of no-relation is the ERISTIC PRINCIPLE.  
     The belief that "order is true" and disorder is false or somehow wrong, 
is the Aneristic Illusion.  To say the same of disorder, is the ERISTIC 
ILLUSION.  
     The point is that (little-t) truth is a matter of definition relative 
to the grid one is using at the moment, and that (capital-T) Truth, 
metaphysical reality, is irrelevant to grids entirely.  Pick a grid, and 
through it some chaos appears ordered and some appears disordered.  Pick 
another grid, and the same chaos will appear differently ordered and 
disordered. 
     Reality is the ultimate Rorschach.  



THE LAST WORD

The foregoing document was revealed to Mal-2 by the Goddess Herself through 
many consultations with Her within his Pineal Gland.  It is guaranteed to be 
the Word of Goddess.  However, it is only fair to state that Goddess doesn't 
always say the same thing to each listener, and that other Episkoposes are 
sometimes told quite different things in their Revelations, which are also 
the Word of Goddess.  Consequently, if you prefer a Discordian Sect other 
than POEE, then none of these Truths are binding, and it is a rotten shame 
that you have read all the way down to the very last
word.  



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    (This has been a public service presentation dated 4-87, from the Bebe 
    L'Strange Cabal, which may have undergone a name change by the time you 
    read this.  This stuff has been hanging around longer than CIS has, and 
    there is no copyright applicable to you, me, or CIS)